4-5 month olds sleep club, - come and join..........

[SnowlightMcKenzie]

Hiya,

There have been so many threads lately about babies who were beginning to sleep better, but suddenly hitting this regression to newborn hell.

So I thought I would start a support thread for us all to compete whinge about how little sleep we are all getting, and tips on how to cope.

Baby Starlight was up just twice last night, but the previous night it was 6 times, and because of that I kept putting off going to bed at all last night, so even though it wasn't too bad, I still had hardly any sleep

DO you think she has clicked on to the fact i'm not well and that there has been a very big family arguement between me and my sister (her aunt)

Oh muppetsmuggle, I thought your dd was 4 months . Think the lack of sleep is making me blinkered. There is also a 6 month thread and I think some of them have older dcs do maybe more help. Feel free to stick around here though.

Its easy to imagine that she could be unsettled by everything. Don't you find that things always seem worse at night. I wonder if it's the same for a child?

I read on here about someone who had some success using chocolate coins as a reward in the morning for not getting up. It obviously ddoesn't address the underlying issue but may help?

Does she have a bedtime routine? Bath, story etc? Does she have a teddy that she likes? I saw a programme recently where there was a child who wouldn't go to bed until really late. They brought her bedtime forward gradually and made it all relaxing and calm so that bedtimes weren't stressful. It was on ITV last week, you might still be able to get it on ITV player online (or whatever its called).

Ok, here's my update. DD is settling a lot more easily for naps and bedtime. No idea why but liking it! DH has been kicked onto a mattress on our bedroom floor while DD and I share the kingsize bed. This means I can feed her and then move away and lie on my back for a bit. It helped a lot last night but I am not sure if it constitutes safe co-sleeping so tonight her cot is being moved to our room and we'll take the side off so she has her space and dh can get back into our bed.

I think she did a 3.5 hour stretch last night but it was from 7pm and I stayed up watching TV until 10pm so didn't feel the benefit of it much.

Hulu I saw that programme, and the thing is DD has never been like this its only really the past week she has been like it.

She has a routine, which is dinner, bath and then bed (skipped bath tonight due to dinner running late for other reasons). she has a story and bedtime and usually takes a teddy or something to snuggle into at bedtime. normally she would sleep from 7pm -7:30am, but the past week is awake from usual time of 7:30am but not going to sleep till very late and still waking up full of energy. I wonder where she gets it from!
Its not helping me at the moment being unwell with various things, so i'm getting tired quite easily at the moment, had a blood test to check my HCG levels as doc and I suspect i'm preggers which is so not the right time for me but we will see.

So don't know what to do for the best?

Hulu I saw that programme, and the thing is DD has never been like this its only really the past week she has been like it.

She has a routine, which is dinner, bath and then bed (skipped bath tonight due to dinner running late for other reasons). she has a story and bedtime and usually takes a teddy or something to snuggle into at bedtime. normally she would sleep from 7pm -7:30am, but the past week is awake from usual time of 7:30am but not going to sleep till very late and still waking up full of energy. I wonder where she gets it from!
Its not helping me at the moment being unwell with various things, so i'm getting tired quite easily at the moment, had a blood test to check my HCG levels as doc and I suspect i'm preggers which is so not the right time for me but we will see.

So don't know what to do for the best?

MM, hopefully then it's just a phase. Will she earlier/better if she is in bed with you? I know 4 months and 4 years aren't quite the same but this has helped me to get more sleep.

Sorry I'm not much help am I?

My DD's naps have gone out of the window today. 30 mins has been her longest and she's in an awful mood... looking forward to tonight

Morning all - please can I join you in your sleep deprived club? DS2 is now 4 and a half months and used to be a lovely little sleeper - putting self to sleep, self settling, only waking for a feed a couple of times a night from only around 4 or 5 weeks old. However in the last 4 weeks it has all gone to pot - he's sleeping ok during the daytime (3 or 4 40 minute naps or 2 longer naps and one little 20 min cat nap, depending on how he feels that day) and settles himself to sleep at bedtime (between 6.30 and 7) BUT wakes up anytime between 4 and 6 hours after being put down to bed and then just will not go back to sleep properly! I feed him, I co-sleep, I semi-swaddle (so he has an arm out to suck on), I shush and repeat sequence ad infinitum - but nothing works with my adorable little insomniac who feels the need to party for 3 hours every night, doze on me for a couple of hours then start his day at 5am. Its a killer. I vaguely (through sleep deprived haze) remember going through a similar thing with DS1 at around 4 months - but at least he'd be fed to sleep and stay asleep - but this pesky DS2 isnt having any of that. He's now dozing happily upstairs for his first nap of the day while I just cant sleep at this time of the day or I end up feeling totally and utterly jetlagged. We're moving him to his own room this weekend purely to put some distance between me and the all night party which makes me feel really guilty but neither I nor DH will be able to function if things continue like this for another month - which they're showing every sign of doing. Gosh, feels much better offloading that.

Welcome dinkystinky, you definately qualify! It's dreadful isn't it? I know it feels like its forever but if you read back through some of the posts you can see how things improve for some posters (I think Feralgirl went from multiple wakings to just one).

I hoped we were seeing improvements but its as though my dd no longer needs to sleep! Last week dd fell asleep after an hour and a half. Today and yesterday its been 2.5hours and then meltdown, followed by a 20 minute nap.

We co-sleep but even that doesn't seem to help anymore. We had party time at 3am and she was awake so often, crying until I sat up and put her on my shoulder. She'd instantly fall back asleep. I am so tired this morning I've cried!

I won't get a chance to nap either because I have a hospital appointment at around the time of dd's longest nap.

I'm thinking of putting DD in her cot but in our room. Putting her in her own room isn't an option while she's waking 5+ times a night.

Thanks HullabaLulu - will definite scroll back through the thread to find some happy endings. I know it will come to an end at some point - the crucial question is when though. Its so frustrating that he knows how to put himself to sleep but for whatever reason wont do it at night. Moving your DD to a cot in your room sounds like a good first step - its what friends of mine did when they were trying to phase out the co-sleeping so their DD started the night off in the cot and then was brought into their bed later and later on until over time she was in the cot all night and being shushed back to sleep if need be by her parents from their bed. Fingers crossed it works for you.

Hey guys, just dropping by to say hello. Wish I could say BabyKiwi has made huge improvements but err... she hasn't. We were down to two night feeds (which is good) but last night was grim, about 5 wake ups and howling miserably at various points that I'm too tired to remember. My day started at 4.30am Hullabalulu she's also terrible at naptime at the moment (unless I'm carrying her in BabyBjorn). Grim.

Am off to bed now... DD is 6 months on Friday so tomorrow will be my last day on this thread before graduating to 6 month sleep deprivation hell

Good luck Kiwi! I hope you get lots of good tips from the 6 month thread. See you in a month.

My dd has started the howling thing. I put her down last night, she was in a really deep sleep but within about 10 minutes she was screaming. I thought she must have been in pain but when I picked her up her arms were all floppy and her eyes were shut - she was still asleep.

So the not-co-sleeping didn't go well. She slept in the crook of my arm and even though she fed every 2 hours but I feel normal today.

I'm going out now so babyHulla will spend most of the day in the sling. I hope that means she'll nap well and not have a crying fit in the shop!

Hope you had a good night Kiwi

Thanks Hullabalulu! I hope I won't see you there, if you see what I mean!

Last night was pretty good actually. We moved DD into the spare room - wasn't really planning to but our boiler broke [oh-god-that'll-be-expensive emoticon] so I had to move her cot out of the room so the plumber could access airing cupboard. Wow this story if fascinating isn't it?? Anyway, I couldn't be bothered to move it back and it worked quite well. She slept from 7 to nearly 2 which is the best EVER (seven hours!!) fed, woke again at 5.30, fed, went back to sleep and was up chatting away to herself cutely at 7.15.
It was also really really nice to go to bed with DH and read before turning the light out - felt positively like normal life...! Obviously a bit of a pain going into the other room to feed her but it's only next door so it didn't seem to make me more awake than before.

Sorry, I am rambling for Britain today. Anyway, planning to start BLW AND put DD in her pushchair for the first time tomorrow, all very exciting. Oh, and I'm taking her toy shopping and letting her chose what she likes

Oh Kiwi that's brilliant news!! Happy 6 months to BabyKiwi! I hope it continues and I'll see you around the more fun boards (BLW starts in 5 weeks for us, you'll be an expert by then!)

Hi all can I join?

I'm so tired today i feel like passing out. My DS is 19 weeks, and went through a phase of being a great sleeper - down at 7, awake once around 3, up 6.30. Now it's all gone horribly wrong! waking at least every two hours, needing feeding back to sleep, no self settling at all - nightmare. the breastfeeding counsellor said this was common at 4 months - a growth spurt and it would pass. everyone else is saying he needs solids, which I'm trying to resist but to be honest if giving him a cheeseburger would guarantee sleep I'd probably crack after a few more nights of this!

What is BLW?

Hi eggybrokenoff, welcome! I don't think weaning helps (although everyone says it). My friend weaned at 4 months because she thought her milk was no longer enough and found her dd woke more.

Milk has more calories than mushed up carrot or baby rice anyway so it makes sense to stick with it. I know the feeling though! It seems they have a big developmental leap at 4 months and it goes on a while which is which is why this is such a killer. Hang in there, we'll get through it together! My dd is almost 21 weeks and we now co-sleep all night and she just latches on when she needs to. Its tiring but less than getting up 6 times+ a night to feed/settle her.

Do you have a routine? Where does your ds sleep?

Hi DanielBumpsMummy BLW is Baby Led Weaning. Another MNer runs a site dedicated to it which explains all. In a nutshell, at 6 months when baby is ready for solids you just give them what you would have - no purees, no mush. Well, there are few other rules to it. See here

and here

this thread has made me feel so much better! just posted my own woes on the board but seems like terrible sleep is a 4mo thing? poor us all going through this! x

Welcome rosycheeks81, 4 months seems to be a perculiar time. Pull up a seat and join in the chat. I find whinging on here really helps!

Hello kiwi, hello hulla, hi everyone...
Haven't posted for a while... Wish I could say it is because things are better because frankly they couldn't be more pants, and I've moved into extreme low battery mode where only tasks essential for basic survival are managed. We're also going on "holiday" tomorrow morning and planning for that has been a nightmare.
But I digress.. Can I just ask where you all are in real life? I just need reassurance that you do all actually exist and are not just a figment of my sleep-deprived imagination. Seriously... when I tell other mothers (of both older and younger babies) about the horror that has become every night chez nous, I just get confused looks. Anyone else get that?

Hey superd, oh that sounds rubbish. Our co-sleeping arrangement means I am getting up less but dd seems to be latched on all night. I keep saying to dh that I feel like I am just surviving. I saw a friend on Thursday and her ds is sleeping through (ff though) and she just can't understand my dd's behaviour. Having said that, most of the mums I know in RL with babies near dd's age have all done cio (not even cc!) and I won't leave dd to cry so perhaps thats why their babies don't disturb them at night?

Oh and my dh thinks I am crackers when I talk about "this woman on MN....". He actually laughs - like its all not real.

We are in Leeds, very real, very sleep deprived (although if I am a figment of your imagination could I have a bit more sleep please?).

How old is BabySuperd now? My dd is 21 weeks on Tuesday.

It was our anniversary yesterday so we were out and about in the car for quite a while meaning dd had 3 naps in the carseat. She usually has a meltdown in the carseat and I stroke her hair until she falls asleep (I always sit in the back while dh drives) but yesterday she just closed her eyes and fell asleep - 3 TIMES. She has never done that. I am taking it as a positive sign.

Ok, I have fed dd and now I am going back to bed.

Morning everyone else, hope you all had a good night

Hi everyone !! What a good post, my DD is 19 weeks now and for the passed 3 weeks she has dropped her naps in the day from 2 - 2 1/2 hours to now 40minutes or less !! Her day normally starts about 7.30am - 8am and she stays up for approx 2 hours before her nap, then wakes up after 40mins ! When i go up to see her sometimes she is still so tired looking in the eyes that i try and sshhh her back to sleep and play a little music which she likes but all fails miserably as she will fall asleep then wake up 5 minutes later. Other times i go up and she is full of smiles.

Shes not waking up because of hunger as ive tried giving her another bottle (she is ff). Really i shouldnt be complaining as she has been sleeping through the night since 9 weeks although do have to get up 2-3 times a night to wind her or give the dumy. She is a diamond to put to bed as she doesnt need rocked or anything, she just likes her little musical glow worm on for a bit then she lies and humms herself to sleep which is very cute !

I just am at a loss at what to do during the day time because when i get her up after her 40mins she is still tired and i think there is something stopping her from staying asleep and dont have a clue what it is !! She does have really bad wind and has done since she was born so i just assume it is that but there its weird how she went from 2 hours naps to 40mins so quickly !! I always have to try and get her to back to sleep before her next feed as wont drink her bottle is she is too tired !!

Its also really hard to keep her amused as she dont really like toys, she likes her rattle but gets bored really quick, hates to lie down and have a kick about, she onlly likes to sit on someones knee and look about which she does get bored of.

I dont really know if a qualify to join as not completely sleep deprived, i am just tired of the her not sleeping and having to keep going up and down stairs and having not alot of time to myself!!

Oh she has also just started teething just now aswell, very drooly and wants to chew everything !!

Just a quick post as I am on my way out but welcome Jackie21. I'll reply more later or tomorrow but it sounds to me like you'll fit right in

Hello?
Where is everyone?

Hey superd! Hi everyone!

Sorry I've been quiet, I have been ill/busy/had nothing to report.

I have resigned myself (and am quite enjoying so far) a few years of co-sleeping. I feel so much better but I don't know how often dd nurses or wakes anymore. It feels better/less.

Daytime naps are a nightmare though. She gets hysterical but fights sleep for hours.

Jackie my dd is 22 weeks and is exactly the same as your dd - won't nap/short naps (even on my knee now), easily bored, wants entertaining constantly but gets bored with me very quickly. Its exhausting. She's trying to sit up from lying down at the moment and its frustrating her. Everytime I lie her down she does little stomach crunches trying to get back up!

We're going away next week so we'll continue with the bedsharing but try and get dh back in!

Anyway, how are you all? No one else revealed where in the world they are...just me then...

I always kill this thread....